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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28040511">These Cats Are Not Ours (until they are)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dahmers_apt213/pseuds/dahmers_apt213'>dahmers_apt213</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>All For The Game - Nora Sakavic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, andrew is grumpy, andrew is reluctantly content, as much as andrew hates to admit it, but he’s so soft for neil, cats !, just a smidge of sexy, the cats cockblock, they’re happy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:28:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,945</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28040511</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dahmers_apt213/pseuds/dahmers_apt213</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Neil lets some cats inside. Andrew is not happy about it. Or so he says.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>128</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>AFTG Exchange Winter 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>These Cats Are Not Ours (until they are)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/5a5b5p5/gifts">5a5b5p5</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I am <b>so</b> not a cat person so i tried my best with this lol 😭<br/>i hope you like it! 💘💘💘</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Neil and Andrew are curled on the couch in the living room of their shared apartment, the TV playing reruns of old cartoons. It’s dark outside and there’s lightning flashing behind the curtains. Neil looks over at the sliding door leading to their second-floor balcony, the curtains lighting up with every lightning strike. And he sees a shadow, crawling across the fabric and back again. Neil squints, trying to make out what could be making this odd shadow, and when the lightning strikes again, the shadow darts across the balcony. Neil sits up, startled, jolting Andrew in the process. </p><p>“What?” Andrew looks towards the sliding door, following Neil’s gaze. </p><p>“I, um, I saw—something.” Neil stutters, squinting at the sliding door again. “It was probably nothing.” </p><p>Andrew gets up, flicking the living room light on as he heads towards the sliding door. “I’ll check.” </p><p>He pushes the curtains back, peering out into the rain, finding nothing, he unlocks the door and slides it open. Almost immediately, something darts into their living room; it’s orange and it’s leaving tiny wet footprints on the floor. </p><p>“It’s a cat!” Neil hops off of the couch, squatting down to the ground to approach the cat, who is now hiding under their corner table. “It’s shivering,” Neil holds his hand out towards the cat, “Can you grab me a towel?” </p><p>Andrew slides the door closed, “Neil, we don’t know who’s cat this is.” He crosses his arms, not moving from his spot by the door. </p><p>Neil looks over his shoulder, “We can’t just leave it outside in the storm.” </p><p>“Well, we can’t keep it.” Andrew replies, not wanting to be responsible for another living thing. </p><p>“Can you just get me a towel?” Neil turns back to the shivering, dripping cat, trying again to reach out and touch it. “I’m not putting the cat back outside tonight.”</p><p>Andrew huffs, but grabs a towel for Neil, anyway. Neil has always been the more empathetic of the two of them, always trying to help everyone else but himself. Andrew is very much me-against-the-world; only caring for a select few people who managed to worm their way into his heart. He doesn’t give love easily, people have to earn it from him. That’s part of the reason why he’s never had pets before; because you’re just expected to love them from the start with no context. </p><p>Neil has successfully coaxed the orange cat out from under their table, now attempting to dry it with the towel. Andrew watches from behind the couch, staying out of the way and letting Neil handle it. </p><p>“Can you get a little bowl of water for him?” Neil asks over his shoulder. </p><p>Andrew hesitates for a second before turning to the kitchen, grabbing a shallow bowl and filling it with tap water. He brings it to Neil and the cat, setting it beside the two of them, “It will not be sleeping in our bed, tonight.” Andrew says, looking down at Neil and the fluffy orange cat, who’s getting friendlier by the second. </p><p>Neil turns toward Andrew with a frown.</p><p>“What?” Andrew replies, “We don’t know where it’s been.” </p><p>Neil considers this, “Okay, I guess that’s understandable.” He pauses, petting the cat with a gentle hand, “But I’m not putting him back outside tonight.” </p><p>Andrew sucks his teeth, narrowing his eyes at Neil. “He stays in the living room.” He says, turning to slip into the bedroom. </p><p>Neil watches him leave, still petting the cat. The cat purrs under Neil’s gentle touch, nuzzling into Neil and getting orange fur all over him. “He’s just grumpy because you like me more than him.” </p><hr/><p>Neil wakes before Andrew, like usual. Quietly, he slips out into the living room searching for the cat that they brought inside last night. “Kitty,” Neil calls out, clicking his tongue and crouching down to look for him. </p><p>The cat uncurls from his perch on the couch, stretching and tilting his head back to look at Neil. “Sleepy boy,” Neil runs a hand over the cat’s back, his fingers vibrating with the loud purrs resonating from the cat’s chest. He grabs a piece of ham from the fridge, ripping off smaller pieces and feeding it to the orange cat. </p><p>Andrew finally makes his way out of the bedroom, walking in on Neil dragging a shoelace around the floor, playing with the cat. “I’m getting in the shower, put the cat back outside.” </p><p>Neil frowns, “Maybe if you were nice to him, he would like you.” </p><p>“I don’t need to be nice to him, he’s not ours.” Andrew replies before locking himself in the bathroom. </p><p>Neil brushes him off, but reluctantly gets up off of the floor, leading the cat to the balcony door. “Andrew says you have to leave.” Neil tells the cat, crouching down to pet him on the head. The cat nuzzles into Neil’s touch, purring loudly and curling his tail. Neil stands, unlocking the door and sliding it open, expecting the cat to dart back outside, just like he darted inside last night. But the cat doesn’t move, and instead sits down, staring up at Neil. “You don’t want to go?” Neil asks, propping a hand on his hip. The cat seems to understand and stands, but only to turn around and walk back over to the couch, hopping up onto it and settling back down. “Huh,” Neil watches the cat defiantly close his eyes, easily dozing off again. </p><p>Out of the corner of his eye, a long black figure creeps onto the porch. Neil turns towards it, his face immediately lighting up when he sees the sleek black cat, sauntering up to the open door. He crouches down again, holding a hand out for the cat to smell. The black cat slowly inches towards him, rubbing his face against Neil’s hand and finally stepping into the apartment. <em> Andrew is not going to like this. </em> Neil thinks, but the cat just walked in like he lived here, so who is Neil to say no to him?</p><p>The black cat wanders around the room, smelling everything and rubbing himself against their furniture. He finds the orange cat and they smell each other, friendly and familiar. Neil watches with adoration as the two cats mingle and explore, dreading the moment when Andrew realizes Neil’s failure to part with the orange cat; and even more so, dreading the moment when Andrew discovers the second cat, curled up on the chair.</p><p>As if on cue, the water from the shower cuts off. Neil rushes to close the sliding door and hurries to the kitchen to look busy, though he doesn’t have a plan, so he just grabs an apple from the fruit basket as Andrew opens the bathroom door in boxers and a t-shirt. Neil stands in the kitchen, awkwardly holding a single apple when Andrew’s suspicious gaze slides over to him. </p><p>Neil smiles, attempting an innocent facade, aware that he’s probably failing miserably.</p><p>“Did you eat?” Andrew asks, tossing his towel into the bedroom, still eyeing Neil apprehensively. </p><p>Neil holds up the apple, “Just going to have some fruit.” He replies, leaning on the counter.</p><p>Andrew hesitates, staring at Neil’s attempt at innocence, before making his way towards the coffee pot. He doesn’t get very far before he’s interrupted by a very quiet,<em> meow. </em></p><p>Andrew freezes, “What was that?” he turns, narrowing his eyes and looking around the room for the source of the noise. Neil very aggressively avoids eye contact; he doesn’t want Andrew to know that he let the second cat inside. </p><p>“Neil,” Andrew’s eyes flick over to Neil, “Did you put the cat back outside?” </p><p>Neil runs a hand through his hair; he’s not good at lying to Andrew any more. “Um, no?” </p><p>Andrew crosses his arms, “Why not? He’s not ours.” </p><p>Neil’s gaze drops momentarily to Andrew’s folded arms, forever distracted. “He didn’t want to leave.” Neil replies, finally looking back up to Andrew’s face.</p><p>Andrew looks disappointed, but not surprised. “Where is he?” </p><p>Neil looks around the room, noticing the black cat lounging on their chair, “Um,” </p><p>Andrew follows Neil’s gaze, eyes settling on the black cat. “Neil,”</p><p>“Yes?” </p><p>“Why is there a black cat in our apartment?” </p><p>Neil hesitates before responding, not really prepared to tell Andrew that he let in yet another cat. “I let him in.” </p><p>Andrew tenses, his jaw clenched and his eyebrows knitted together, “Why would you do that?”</p><p>Neil crosses his arms defiantly, “He wanted to come in.” </p><p>“These cats are not ours, Neil! You can’t just let strange animals into our apartment!” Andrew’s voice raises only a bit, but it’s enough that Neil understands that he is not excited about the idea of two strange cats staying with them. </p><p>Neil turns away from Andrew, back to the black cat, “He’s nice! I bet you’ll like him if you just try,” </p><p>“I don’t need to try, we’re not keeping them.” Andrew replies, his arms still crossed, and his face firm with his words. </p><p>“Come on, Andrew,” Neil whines, turning back towards Andrew and cranking up his puppy dog eyes to about a thousand. “I’ve never had a pet before.” Neil says; he knows it’s not the best thing to do to Andrew, but he uses his lack of a normal childhood against him, knowing that Andrew will have the tiniest bit of sympathy. </p><p>Andrew stares at Neil, his aggressive eyes piercing into Neil’s bright blue ones. It’s a staring contest between Neil’s puppy dog eyes and Andrew’s hazel daggers. But Andrew is weak for Neil’s pleading face; the same face he uses when he wants Andrew to feed him fruit; the same face he uses when he asks Andrew to hold him after a long day; the same face he uses when he wants to stay late at the court. </p><p>Andrew’s brain bounces between the worst case scenarios if they were to keep these strange cats, but finally, he rolls his eyes. “You have to take them to the vet, see if they’re chipped.” </p><p>Neil’s face lights up, overjoyed that Andrew reluctantly agreed to the potential new roommates. “I’ll go tomorrow!” He says, entirely too excited, turning back to the cats in the living room. </p><p>Andrew tries to look apathetic, but he can’t help but turn up the corners of his mouth at Neil’s happiness. </p><hr/><p>The two cats have been staying with them for about a week. Neil took them to the vet to see if they were chipped. Much to Andrew’s dismay, they were not, which meant that Neil begged Andrew to keep them, to which Andrew agreed, but not before setting some ground rules. </p><p>Most importantly, the cats are not allowed in the bedroom. Almost all of Andrew’s clothes are black and he does not want cat hair all over every single piece of clothing that he owns. </p><p>So the cats stay in the living room. </p><p>They still don’t have names, but Andrew has been avoiding naming them so he doesn’t have to accept that they are staying. </p><p>Andrew has warmed up to them a bit; the black cat is especially friendly with him, even though Andrew is indifferent back to him. He’s okay with the cats if they leave him alone, never admitting, not even to Neil, that he really doesn’t mind when the black cat rests his head in Andrew’s lap while he’s trying to work. He doesn’t want to acknowledge that the soft hum of the cat’s purring and the weight of his small head in his lap is actually quite comforting. </p><p>Although, he does get grumpy when the cats always manage to interrupt their intimate moments. Nosy little fuckers—always begging for attention at the exact wrong moment. </p><p>Andrew pulls back from his very heated makeout session with a very attractive redhead, and looks over Neil’s shoulder at the cat, perched on the chair next to the couch that they are currently sprawled across. “The cat is watching.” He whispers to Neil.</p><p>Neil pushes up a little bit to look at the cat. “He’ll go away.” He says, unbothered, and tugs Andrew back down for another kiss. </p><p>Andrew tries to focus on the feeling of Neil’s mouth on his own, but he can feel that cat’s piercing green eyes burning into them. He pulls back again, looking up at the cat, once more. “Will you leave us alone?” He bats a hand out towards the cat, trying to get him to abandon his spot on the chair. Neil laughs and Andrew looks down at his blushing, freckled, adorable face. “What?” </p><p>Neil smiles up at him, “You’re paranoid.” He says, and nudges Andrew off of him. Neil hops off the couch and saunters towards the bedroom, followed closely by Andrew, who spins Neil around and presses a kiss to his mouth as soon as they get into the room. Andrew’s hands land around Neil’s waist, tugging his body into his own and pressing their chests together.</p><p>
  <em> Meow. </em>
</p><p>“This fucking cat,” Andrew huffs, pulling away from Neil and nudging the cat with his foot. “Always fucking cockblocking us,” He mumbles, letting go of Neil’s waist to attempt to get the cat out of the bedroom. </p><p>Neil giggles, sliding over to the bed and watching Andrew struggle to grab the cat.</p><p>“I don’t know how it came to this,” Andrew sighs, giving up on banishing the cat from the bedroom and flopping down onto the bed. Neil flops down next to Andrew and props his head up with an elbow. “Stop smiling at me like that,” Andrew flicks Neil in the forehead.</p><p>“Like what?” Neil asks with a guilty smile; he knows exactly the smile that Andrew is referring to. </p><p>Andrew waves his hands in the general direction of Neil’s face, “Just—you know what,” </p><p>“Hmm,” Neil hums, leaning over to press a kiss to Andrew’s mouth. Andrew is quick to wrap a hand around the back of Neil’s neck, pulling him over himself. Neil struggles to keep their lips attached as he stumbles over Andrew’s body, holding himself above the blonde. Andrew’s hands slip under Neil’s shirt, cold fingers pressing into his skin, tugging him down to lay on top of him. Neil goes gladly, threading eager fingers through Andrew’s hair and tilting his chin up to nip at his neck. He buries his face in Andrew’s collarbone, licking and biting at the skin there, making little marks. Neil slides a hand over Andrew’s chest, fingers curling around his waist. He slots a leg between Andrew’s thighs, grinding against him just enough to earn a stifled groan. </p><p>“Yes or no?” Neil asks between kisses to Andrew’s neck. </p><p>Andrew’s fingers curl in Neil’s hair, “Yes, Neil,” He breathes, eyes fluttering closed when Neil’s hand moves from his waist to down the front of his pants. </p><p>Neil kisses up Andrew’s neck, finding his lips again and licking into him with a desire that only the two of them know. He grinds against Andrew, panting into his mouth, desperate little tugs to his cock in between. </p><p>It’s hot and needy, and sticky by the end. Neil’s body pressed on top of Andrew’s body, breathing heavily, still with a hand down Andrew’s pants.</p><p>The orange cat hops up onto the bed next to them with a loud trill. He nuzzles against Neil’s leg, once again begging for attention. </p><p>Neil carefully takes his hand out of Andrew’s pants, wiping it inelegantly on a dirty t-shirt, discarded to the side of the bed. </p><p>“Nice,” Andrew says with a frown, “We have wipes, you know.” </p><p>Neil shrugs, moving to pet the cat, “We’ve got to think of names for them.” Neil replies, changing the subject. </p><p>The black cat hops up onto Andrew’s lap and the corners of Andrew’s mouth quirk up the slightest bit at the feeling of the cat’s little paws kneading his thigh. </p><p>“Andrew Minyard,” Neil says with a smirk, “Is that a smile I see on your face?” </p><p>Andrew shoves Neil’s shoulder, “Shut up,</p><p>“Could it be?” Neil says, thinking out loud, “No, it’s impossible. There’s no way Andrew Minyard actually <em> likes </em> the cats.” </p><p>“Oh, fuck off!” Andrew throws a pillow at Neil, hitting him in the face and earning a laugh from him, startling both cats.</p><p>Neil tosses the pillow to the side, crawling back over towards Andrew and petting the orange cat with a gentle hand. He tilts his face up to look at Andrew in the eyes, “I knew you would warm up to them.” </p><p>Andrew tries, and fails again to appear apathetic in the face of Neil’s bright smile. “I hate them,” He tries, knowing that Neil sees right through his facade. </p><p>“Yeah, yeah,” Neil rolls his eyes, flopping onto his back and running a hand down the cat’s back, “I see how you hate things.” </p><p>Andrew sucks his teeth, staring down at Neil, carefully petting the black cat. “Okay fine,” He concedes finally, “Maybe I like them a little bit.” </p><p>“Ha!” Neil sits up, “I knew it!” He points an accusatory finger at Andrew, a goofy smile plastered across his face.</p><p>Andrew bats Neil’s hand away, staring back at him, “No one will believe you.”</p><p>Neil lays back down, “That’s okay,” He says, playing with the cat’s tail, “All that matters is that<em> I </em>know that you like them.” </p><p>Andrew doesn’t know how he got to this point; domestic <strike> hell </strike> bliss with Neil and two cats. He never thought he would be able to—or <em> allowed </em> to. But in any case, here he is, the happiest he’s ever been, laying on a king size bed with the <strike> bane of his existence </strike> love of his life and two little demons called cats. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading! 🧡<br/>come hang out with me on <a href="https://twitter.com/tozierstrashy">twitter</a> !</p></blockquote></div></div>
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